Something else I’ve been very passionate about these past few years at Saint Anselm has been litter, particularly on the weekend. For a small campus, we have a very big problem with trash.

It’s disappointing to me to see on a fairly regular basis crushed beer cans, shredded boxes and empty bottles littering the gently rolling hills, emerald green grass and well-maintained roads we pay to maintain here on campus.

This weekend, I have to say, was particularly bad. Sunday morning, the parking lot of Father Bernard court was covered in a litany of litter, a bouquet of broken bottles, a cacophony of colors of brightly splashed red and blue and shining aluminum cans, the contents within advertised as both natural and refreshing (and perhaps a bit intoxicating, too.)

What I think we all forgot in our drunken debauchery is that there are others who use this campus as a place to do things other than expand their minds and their livers (or to suck away the contents of their wallets.) We have our finely dressed men in black robes over in the Benedictine monastery who call this campus their home- not for four years, but forever. We have faculty who do their best to be accessible and available to students, and to give us the knowledge to be some of the best new leaders in the country. Furthermore, we have the various other faculty members of campus who maintain the grounds, keep the halls clean and livable, prepare our awesome food, and provide the essential administrative functions that keep our college functioning.

On top of all these wonderful people, we are also a place for people of the community of all ages to take walks on the same greens and walks we enjoy.  These include our friends who walk on two legs, young, old, and in between, as well as the four-legged furry friends we all like to stop and greet.

I challenge all Anselmians this year to start bucking the trend of litter and to work towards keeping our campus beautiful. I can say that this year is an improvement over years past, but an improvement does not mean the work is done. We are working towards perfection, but we aren’t even close to there yet. I commend the members of the Class of 2018 for doing a good job with FBC- it’s been better this year, at least in my perception, than it has been in years past. Let’s keep the positive trend rolling.

Maybe a litter-free campus isn’t possible in reality, but it’s certainly a dream I would like to see us all strive towards. If we all do our part and take care of our trash, it’s one step closer to keeping our campus the respectable, beautiful place we saw on our college tours- every single day.